Hi Everyone,
I am hoping somebody might be able to give me some advice on the swing arm on my 1967 Hornet.
I lifted the bike up to replace the rear tyre and noticed some side to side play on the swing arm. There is no forward and back play and the bushings are good.
Having taken apart the swing arm and comparing it to my parts manual and doing a some research I can see that my arrangement is quite different to what is shown in the parts book. It would appear that I have the later style bushing arrangement from 1969/70, rather than the rubber style that was fitted in 1967. I assume that it was worn out and replaced at some point. I am not sure if the whole swing arm was replaced or just the bushing type.
After consulting the parts manual for 1969 I can see that all of my parts are the same, with the exception of the "Cup Washers" and "O-Rings" that are used to seal the ends of the swing arm and keep grease from leaking out/dirt from getting in.
My theory was that my bike was missing the cup washers and o rings, and this what was causing the side play on the swing arm, so I purchased these from Draganfly. These parts have now arrived and unfortunately they do not fit for a couple of reasons:
1 - They are too thick, there isn't room for even one of the cups to fit in.
2 - On the primary side, the swing arm sits quite close to the rear end of the engine. The cup washer does not fit because it interferes with the engine.
I have now looked at the parts manual for a 1970 model and can see that in that year, the cup washers and "O" rings were not used. So perhaps I have a 1970 model swing arm.
So I am now back at square one with how to rectify this.
I have about 1 to 2mm of side play on the swing arm at the pivot end, which to be honest I can't really notice when I'm riding it, but Im sure if that play wasn't there it would handle better.
Does anyone have any recommendation or input on how to rectify this?
Ive attached some photos of the setup on my bike.
Thank you so much,
Tom
Had the same problem but with some sideways play in the swingarm of my Lightning 1970. Bought a set from lf harris and put new bushings in, loose the o rings . They don't fit even as the cups, there is no room for it.
I remember that i shortend the mid pipe and leave 0.1mm play sideways , so whem you bolt the swingarm up so it can move and don't get stuck.
If there is to much room place a shim between frame and swingarm.
Grease it up til you see the grease comes out. You can put a rubber sleeve over it as a dust cover, maybe a piece of inner tire.
Gr gup
Hello Tom. For 1969, BSA fitted the cups and 'O'rings to the swing arm with narrower spacers, so they won't fit your setup as you have the 1970 knurled spacers. The 1970 design revision for sealing was to fit rubber dust excluder sleeves (part no. 83-1318) to knurled wider spacers (knurled to help prevent sleeves spinning with swing arm). Swing arm part number for 69 and 70 same btw. As Gup mentioned, use shim washers to reduce play if necessary. HTH